Asteria & Euryale

Long ago, the zealous ruler of a small coastal kingdom, the name of which is lost to time, had a daughter he named Asteria, or "shining star" in the language of the kingdom, for the stars shone auspiciously on her birth. But Asteria defied his expectations. While other nobles' children happily played with their bevy of toys, Asteria intently focused on cataloging every constellation she could find. When other children greeted their parents with high heads and laughter, Asteria smiled firmly at the ground. Over time, Asteria's father grew discontented with his daughter, frustrated by his many failed attempts to mold Asteria into a person who matched the ideas in his head. The princess grew up isolated and independent, resenting the unending pressure others placed on her to be someone other than herself.
One afternoon, as Asteria swam alone as a reprieve from her peers, a rip current swallowed her. Waves battered her against the rocks, then carried her unconscious body far from the kingdom's shore to a secret grotto in which the reclusive medusa Euryale lived alone. Despite Euryale's anxiety (she was painfully aware that even kind folk feared her petrifying gaze), she tended to Asteria's wounds. When Asteria awoke, the young woman didn't panic. Instead, the pair chatted throughout the night, talking of the stars, the sea, and everything else they had longed to share with someone for so long.
Asteria stayed until her wounds were healed. But rather than return to a father who was always disappointed in her, she decided to let her father assume she was dead. The secluded grotto became her new home. Over the years, Euryale taught Asteria how to be a steward of the land, while Asteria provided companionship, freely sharing with Euryale all the esoteric interests she had pursued as a child. The two were sisters in all but blood, for Euryale didn't pressure Asteria to conform to her ways or to look her in the eye, and Asteria didn't view Euryale as a terrifying monster. Their existences blissfully intertwined for years, with neither forcing the other to be anything but themselves.
This peace was not to last, for Asteria's father never gave up hope his daughter still lived. After a decade of searching, he found her new home and ordered his soldiers to retrieve her through any means necessary. The idyllic grotto was overrun by violence, and although Euryale defended her home and her sister with fervent abandon, turning many of the intruders to stone, both women were captured and taken to the coastal kingdom.
Determined to rein in his wayward daughter, the king locked Asteria away in a keep and sentenced Euryale to death. Asteria, horrified, tried everything to save her dearest friend, but her pleas were dismissed. In desperation, she broke out of the keep, but she was overwhelmed by guards. Only then, after exhausting all options, did Asteria give in to rage, screaming at the stars that were her namesake, searching for an answer.
An answer came, but it was not the one Asteria hoped for. Istus, a god of fate, heard the princess and visited her in the keep that night. Every door opened for Istus, and invisible to every guard, she led Asteria onto the cliffs, where—pointing out the constellations that governed Asteria's and Euryale's fates—Istus explained that nothing could be done. It was Asteria's destiny to be a dutiful daughter and princess, and it was Euryale's fate to be remembered forever as a tragic villain. Asteria wasn't sure which part of this destiny she resented more.
"We don't get to choose our stories," the god explained.
"Don't we?" Asteria replied. "I chose to see Euryale differently, as she did me. That was enough to change our stories once, years ago. Let me change them again."
Swayed by Asteria's conviction, Istus reluctantly admitted that Asteria's and Euryale's fates could be rewritten, but the consequences of such an action were impossible to predict. Both women could get new destinies, but they might be no better than the last, and they could be worse. But Asteria was adamant, so Istus reached into the sky and pulled down twenty-two constellations to form a deck of sixty-six oracle cards. Placing thirteen of these cards face up, one by one, Istus rewrote Asteria and Euryale's story.
Armed with her new destiny, Asteria rescued Euryale, and the two have since had many grand adventures together. In time, Euryale longed once more for a quiet life; the two women found a site that reminded them of the grotto that had once been their home, and Euryale retired there from adventuring. Asteria, however, still felt a fervent desire to defend others from the injustice of destiny. Taking up the symbol of the medusa as an icon of protection, strength, and her dearest friend, Asteria has continued her journey alone.